Tourism in Europe depends strongly on small and medium sized enterprises, many of them family owned. In the European Union the core tourism industry includes about 2.3 million businesses that employ roughly 12.3 million people. These firms provide places to stay, food, tours and local services that shape the identity of destinations and support community life. Globally tourism supports around 1 in 10 jobs and contributes close to 10 per cent of economic output. When a single tourism business closes because there is no plan for succession, that loss affects local livelihoods and also forms part of this wider picture. Protecting viable enterprises through better succession planning is therefore a shared concern, and it lies at the heart of the Next GEN Tourism project.
Across Europe an estimated 450000 firms change ownership every year, affecting more than 2 million employees. Studies indicate that up to 1 in 3 of these transfers may not succeed, which places around 150000 enterprises and 600000 jobs at risk each year. In many cases the business is profitable, but there is no clear agreement about who will take over or how the process will work. Owners may delay decisions, successors may feel unprepared and the result can be closure rather than continuity. Next GEN Tourism responds to this reality by promoting earlier succession readiness and offering tourism enterprises a structured way to think about leadership change.
When a tourism business closes without a planned successor, the impact on destinations is clear. A family guesthouse, a local restaurant or a small tour company may simply disappear from the map. Visitors lose trusted services, residents lose jobs and local suppliers lose customers. Over time places can become less distinctive and less attractive. Within families the lack of a plan can create tension and uncertainty, especially as many owners are now over 55 and a significant share have no succession plan in place. Transfers then often occur only when a crisis forces an urgent decision, leaving little time for gradual learning or shared responsibility.
Next GEN Tourism was created to help avoid these outcomes. The project brings together partners from several European countries to develop a succession readiness framework, a modular training package, a digital assessment tool and an online knowledge hub. Together these resources give owners, successors, educators and advisors practical support to understand their situation, start conversations early and plan for a smooth transfer. A tourism business without a succession plan is at real risk of disappearing, even when it is successful today. A business that prepares has a far better chance to continue, protect jobs and keep local culture alive, and this is the future that Next GEN Tourism works to support.
Sources
Tourism
Tourism vital to employment in several Member States - Products Eurostat News - Eurostat
Business Transfer as an Engine for SME Growth – The Global Solutions Initiative